Garments



' INVENTOR. Eu/v/cE M BREN 0% MI/M15 W ATTORNEYS GARMENTS Eunice M. Bren, Minneapolis, Minn., assignor to Munsingwear, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 21, 1958, Ser. No. 729,953

2 Claims. (Cl. 2-115) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in wearing apparel such as shirts, and the like, and more particularly to garments designed to be worn by individuals who find it necessary to frequently raise the arms to various elevated positions which, in a garment of conventional construction, may cause considerable pulling and stretching of the fabric constituting the body of the garment, which the wearer may find extremely uncomfortable, particularly if the swinging movements of the wearers arms, as when playing golf, and the like, causes the lower portion of the bodyof the garment to continually creep upwardly on the wearers body during play.

The present invention relates to improvements in garments of the general class disclosed in Patent No. 2,554,- 380, granted to Ernest L. Olrich and Franklin Chatfield on May 22, 1951.

The garment herein disclosed embodies certain features which distinguishes it from the garment shown in the above noted patent, and which features have been found to render the underarm portions of the garment more readily stretchable in a direction to facilitate raising and lowering the arms without causing a pulling action in the fabric constituting the body of the garment, as hereinbefore stated, and whereby the body of the shirt or garment will always retain its correct position on the wearers body regardless of arm movements.

An important object of the present invention, therefore, resides in the provision of a garment of the sleeve type, which is so constructed that when worn, the wearer may raise his arms at will without causing any abnormal pulling in the fabric constituting the body of the garment, as when the wearer plays golf or ball, etc., or when used by pilots or aviators who frequently must move their arms over head to manipulate the various controls of ships.

Another important object of the present invention resides in the unique construction and shape of the underarm inserts constituting the arm pit portions of the garment, whereby said arm pit portions normally retain their fully retracted shapes, and when the wearer of the garment raises his arms sufiiciently to impart a lateral pull on the underarm inserts, said inserts will freely yield and stretch or expand to prevent any abnormal pulling in the fabric constituting the body of the garment.

A further and more specific object of the invention resides in the elongated, diamond-shaped configuration of the underarm inserts, whereby each underarm insert, when embodied in the garment, extends from a point substantially midway between the arm pit and the collar at the front of the garment, and around through the arm pit with its opposite end terminating at a similar location at the back of the garment, said inserts having the wales of the fabric running lengthwise thereof and disposed in parallel relation to the longitudinal axes or centerlines of the inserts, thereby to provide maximum stretchability in the inserts, crosswise thereof.

Other objects of the invention reside in the symmetrical formation of the inserts whereby they may be sewn into the garment by an unskilled operator with the assurance they will be properly placed therein; and in the provision of a garment of this general type which is extremely simple and inexpensive in construction.

These and other objects of the invention and the means for their attainment will be more apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In the accompanying drawings there has been disclosed a structure designed to carry out the various objects of the invention, but it is to be understood that the invention is not confined to the exact features shown, as various changes may be made within the scope of the claims which follow.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front view of a garment showing the invention embodied therein;

Figure 2 is a rear view of the upper portion of the garment showing one of the arms raised with the insert thereof expanded or stretched in a lateral direction to permit such raising of the sleeve without exerting an abnormal pulling action in the fabric constituting the body of the garment; and

Figure 3 is a view showing the symmetrical configuration of the underarm inserts prior to their embodiment in a garment.

In the selected embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, there is illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, for purposes of disclosure, a garment comprising a main body portion, generally designated by the numeral 2, having front and back panels or walls 3 and 4, respectively. Panels 3 and 4 may be secured together at the sides of the garment body by suitable seams, not shown in the drawing, or the body of the garment may be seamless, as when knittedon a circular type knitting machine.

A collar or neck band 5 is secured to the upper portion of the garment body, as indicated in full and dotted lines in Figures 1 and 2, and has a collar 6 secured thereto, as is well known in the art. .The neck band 5 has oppositely positioned peak shoulder points 5a and 5b thereon and oppositely positioned sleeve attachment portions between the front points 50 and the rear points 52. Front points 5!: lie on the neck band 5 approximately one-half the distance between the respective peak shoulder points 5a and 5b and the mid-front point 5d of the neck band while rear points 5e lie on the neck band approximately one-half the distance from the respective peak shoulder points 5a and 5b and the mid-rear point 5f on the neck band. The collar 6 may be open at the front, as indicated at 7 in Figure 1, but it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to garments with collar type neck openings, as obviously, it is equally applicable to garments having turtle necks, or other forms of neck openings.

The front panel 3 has upper oppositely positioned edge portions 2020 which extend downwardly and outwardly from the upper end of the panel at the front points 50 on the neck band 5. The rear panel 4 is of similar construction to that of panel 3 with oppositely positioned upper edge portions 21a-21a which extend downwardly and outwardly from the upper end of the rear panel at the points 5e on the neck band.

The garment here shown is of the short sleeve type, such as frequently worn by athletes, and many others,

and thus has short sleeves 8 and 9 which, as best shown in Figures 1 and 2, are of the well-known Raglan type. Each sleeve is defined by edges 11, 12 and '13 at the front of the garment, and edge 14 at the neck band 5 which extends around to the back of the garment and connects with edge 15. Edge 14 is coextensive in length with the adjacent sleeve attachment portion of the neck band 5 which extends between the front point 50 7 Patented June 21, 15960 and the rear point 5e thereon. Edge 15 in turn is shown connected with edge 16 at the back of the garment. The sleeves may be provided with culfs 17. The edges 12 and 13 define the front edge of the sleeve and edge 13 in the upper portion of the front edge while edge 12 is the lower portion and these converge together in an obtuse angle. Likewise, there is a rear edge of the sleeve defined by the upper edge portion 15 and the lower edge portion 16 which converge in a generally oblique angle. The upper portion 13 of the front edge, and the upper portlon 15 of the rear edge of the sleeve are each approximately twice as long as the sleeve engaging portion of the neck band 5 that extends from front point 50 to rear point 52 on the neck band. 7 V

An important feature of the present invention resides 1n the unique manner in which the lower portion of the sleeves are secured to the body of the garment, whereby the sleeves may be swung freely upwardly, as indicated at F in Figure 2, without causing any objectionable upward pulling in the fabric constituting the body of the garment. To thus render the sleeves freely swingable in a vertical plane, as when the wearer of the garment raises his arms to an elevation above the shoulders, the garment is shown comprising a pair of elongated inserts 18, which constitute the arm pits of the composite garment, as clearly illustrated inFiguresl and 2. i v I I 7 Each insert is preferably diamond-shaped in configuration and is constructed of a knitted fabric having the wales thereof running lengthwise of the insert and disposed in parallel relation to the longitudinal axis aa of the insert, as indicated by the arrow 19 in Figure 3.

Each insert is also symmetrical about its longitudinal axis, whereby an operator when securing the inserts into the garment, need not exercise any particular attention to the manner in which the inserts are placed in the garment, so long as the two terminals thereof are properly disposed at the front and rear portions of the garment, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the application drawing. i

When securing sleeves of the Raglan" type, as herein shown, to the body of the garment, said sleeves may have their upper edges 14 secured to the neck band 5 by a suitable seam not shown in the drawing. The front edge portions 13 of the sleeves are secured to the upper edge portions 26 of the front body panel 3 by seams 21, shown extending from the collar band 5 down through the arm pits and up the back to the collar band 5, as "indicated in Figures 1 and 2. i i v i Edges 13 and 20 of the sleeves and garment body, respectively, are sewn together at the front of the garment by a seam 21 extending downwardly through the arm pit and up the back, as shown in Figure 2, to the rear portion of the neck band 5. Seams 21 stitch the bottom edges of the inserts to the body of the garment, as will be understood by reference to Figures 1 and 2.

The upper edge portions of the inserts E are stitched to the lower edge portions 12 of the sleeves by seams 22 which extend from point S on seam 21 at the front of the garment, downwardly through the arm pits and up the back to points T at the back of the garment. Seams 22 thus secure the front and rear edge portions 12 and 16, respectively, of the sleeves to the top edges of the inserts E. Points S and T are located at substantially the same elevation and approximately midway between the arm pits and collar band 5, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

It will be noted in Fig. 2 that each insert is positioned so that the extreme apices T fall interiorly of a line U5a drawn between the juncture of the lower portion of the insert with the body at U and the adjacent side of the annular neck portion in the area of the peak shoulder point 5a thereon.

In Fig. 2 broken lines are indicated at V as extending through and as a prolongation of the major axis of each insert and the prolongation of these axes intersects the annular neck portion of the garment past the center of the body portion at a position on the neck portion which lies on the opposite side of the center line YY of the body portion from that of the side of the center line of the body portion in which said insert lies.

By making the inserts symmetrical about their longitudinal axes aa, their intermediate portions, indicated by the line bb in Figure 3 provides the maximum stretch of the fabric constituting the inserts and which maximum stretch is thus located at substantially the centers of the two arm pits, where the maximum stretch takes place in the inserts, as indicated by the arrow 23 at the right hand side of Figure 2. When the underarm inserts are constructed and arranged in the arm pits of the garment as herein disclosed, the sleeves may be freely swung upwardly as indicated by the full lines at the right hand side of Figure 2 substantially without exerting any pulling action in the fabric constituting the body of the garment. This is extremely important in that it assures the wearer that the lower portion of his garment will always retain its proper position on his body, regardless of arm and body movements.

From the foregoing, it should be clearly noted that the novel underarm inserts featured in this invention make it possible for an individual wearing a garment so equipped to manipulate his arms at any desired elevation with utmost freedom and without exerting any'undesir able pulling effects in the walls of the garment body. Also by making the inserts symmetrical about their longitudinal axes a--a, and having the wales of the fabric disposed in parallel relation to'said axes, the intermediate portions bb of the inserts may stretch sufficiently in the direction indicated by the arrow 23 in Figure 2, to provide adequate stretch in the fabric of the inserts to permit unrestricted upward swinging movements of the wearers arms without causing any objectionable upward pulling on the body of the garment.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing fromthe essential characteristics thereof. Hence, the present embodiments are thereforeto be considered in all respects merely as being illustrative and not as being restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all modifications and variations as fall within the meaning and purview and range of equivalency of the appended claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

1 claim as my invention:

1. A garment of the class described having sleeves, a body portion and armpit portions, the aforesaid sleeves and body portion having cooperating upper edge portions forming a substantially annular neck bank at the upper end of the garment, said neck band having oppositely positioned peak shoulder points thereon, said body .portion having a front and a rear panel, each having an upper edge portion cooperating to form front and rear portions respectively of said annular neck band, the front panel having upper oppositely positioned edge portions, said front panel edge portions extending in substantially straight linesoutwardly and downwardly from points on said neck band spaced forward from said peak shoulder points to their lower ends which terminate at lower portions of said armpit portions of the garment, the rear panel having upper oppositely positioned edge portions, said rear panel edge portions extending in substantially straight lines outwardly and downwardly from points on said neck band spaced rearward from said peak shoulder points to lower ends which terminate at lower portions of said armpit portions where they join with said lower ends of the respective upper edges of said front panel, said sleeves each having a cooperating upper edge forming a shoulder portion of said neck hand between said front and rear panels, said shoulder portions being at opposite sides of the garment, said sleeves being of the g raglan type, said upper edge portion of each of said sleeves being interposed between edge portions of said front and rear panels, said sleeves each having front and rear edges, each edge having an upper and a lower portion thereof which converge together and define therebetween a generally oblique angle, the upper portions of said sleeve edges also converging toward each-other and terminating at the respective ends of said annular neck band portion of the sleeve, said converging upper portions of the sleeve edges and said annular neck band portion of the sleeve forming a three sided end of the sleeve adapted to overlay the shoulder of the wearer, said converging upper portions of the sleeve edges being attached to respective adjacent upper end portions of said edge portions of the respective front and rear panels, said lower portions of the front and rear edges of each sleeve being spaced at an increasing distance from the respective adjacent edge portions of the front and rear panels as they recede toward their outer ends where their outer ends are joined together, and elongated diamond-shaped inserts being fitted into and secured in position between the lower portions of the front and rear edges of each sleeve and the adjacent edge portions of the front and rear panels at the armpit portions, said inserts having oppositely positioned apices at the end of the longitudinal axis of said diamond-shaped insert, each insert being positioned so that its said apices will fall interiorly of a line drawn between the juncture of the lower portion of the insert with the 'body and the adjacent side of the annular neck portion in the area of said peak shoulder point thereon, said inserts being constructed of knitted fabric having the wales of the fabric disposed in parallel relation to the longitudinal axes thereof, said inserts being ireely stretchable laterally thereby permitting free up and down movement of the garment sleeves without causing undue stretching of the fabric constituting the body portion of the garment.

2. The garment of claim 1 in which said upper edge portions of said front panel extend outwardly and downwardly from points of said neck band approximately onehalf of the distance between the respective peak shoulder points on said neck band and a mid-point of the neck band; and the upper edge portions of said rear panel extend outwardly and downwardly from points on said neck band approximately one-half the distance between the respective peak shoulder points of the neck band and a mid-point of the neck band.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,554,380 O1rich et a] May 22, 1951 

